CHICAGO Nov 3 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co's Climate
Corp will sell its Precision Planting farm equipment business to
Deere & Co for an undisclosed sum, a move that
underscores how turmoil in the agriculture sector has made it
ripe for consolidation.

For Climate, a unit of the world's largest seed company, the
deal marks the latest push to shed businesses that are not
focused on either software or services, Climate President Mike
Stern said.

Deere, the world's largest farm equipment maker, hopes the
deal will create a revenue stream in retrofitting older
machinery to help offset slumping sales elsewhere.

With a glut of used farm equipment on the market and most
farmers not interested in buying new machinery due to soft
commodity prices, both companies are hoping the deal will tempt
farmers to update equipment and buy into new farm-data services.

Grain prices are hovering around five-year lows and farm
income is expected to tumble 21 percent this year, keeping a lid
on spending by farmers and putting pressure on companies across
the sector to consolidate and seek cost savings.

Tuesday's deal is Deere's second push into the
precision-planting equipment arena this week. On Monday, it
announced plans to acquire France-based Monosem. Monosem makes
farm equipment known as "precision planters, that use a
technologically advanced process in which farmers can specify
seed planting depths by crop row.

Last month, Deere entered a joint venture with DN2K to
create a software platform for agricultural advisers and
consultants.
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